I got an unused variable in function Store in a controller, $variable = Model::create() (Laravel 9)

Question

I would like to know how to use Model::create properly, because I don't have any issues, but I have an unused variable that someone explained to me that is normal and should stay there... it just doesn't make any sense for me.

That's my code.

public function store(StoreProjectRequest $request)
{
    $data = $request->validated();

    $slug = Project::genSlug($request->title);
    $data["slug"] = $slug;

    $newProject = Project::create($data);

    return redirect()->route("admin.projects.index");
}

If I hover the $newProject, it says "declared but not used".

Can anyone explain me?

Answer 1

The create method on a model returns an instance of the model that was created. If you do not use it anywhere after creating it, there is no point in assigning it to a variable. You can just do this:

Project::create($data);

A reason to assign it to a variable could be to redirect to a page that shows the information about the newly created model. Provided you have a route like this:

Route::get('projects/{project}', [ProjectsController::class, 'show'])->name('projects.show');

Something like this could make sense in your controller:

public function store(StoreProjectRequest $request)
{
    // ... validation

    $project = Project::create($data);

    return redirect()->route('projects.show', ['project' => $project]);
}